Middle Earth - Unstuck in Time?

[davem]

'|Now goblins are cruel, wicked & bad hearted. They make no beautiful things, but they make many clever ones. ...

Hammers, axes, swords, daggers, pickaxes, tongs, & also instruments of torture, they make very well....

It is not unlikely that they invented some of the machines that have since troubled the world, especially the ingenious devives for killing large numbers of people at once, for wheels, engines & explosions always delighted them...(The Hobbit)

And it is said that even those of the Numenoreans of old who had the straight vision did not all comprehend this, & they tried to devise ships that would rise above the waters of the world & hold to the imagined seas. [i]But they achieved only ships that would sail in the air of breath.(The Fall of Numenor)

CT comments:

I believe that the story of the flying ships buiilt by the exild Numenoreans, found already in the preliminary draft is the sole introduction of aerial craft in all my father's works. No hint is given of the means by which they rose & were propelled; & the passage did not survive into the later legend.

It seems that the 'Machine' is symbolic of the Fall - fallen beings are subject to 'machine' thinking - which is the desire to control & coerce, so, as Tolkien said, the Ring is the ultimate machine.

CT tells of sitting with his father on the White Horse hill when he was a child, & seeing a train go by beneath them:CT was excited, but his father felt it shouldn't be there, that it didn't 'belong'. He futher comments that, as far as his father was concerned, it wasn't man that was the problem, nor was it the 'not-man', ie nature, but the man-made that was the problem. (interview in the documentary JRRT: A Film Portrait).

Technology is, therefore symbolic of the fall, because it is the result of an 'unnatural' way of thinking, & a desire for power over things.

As to technology in the various cultures of Me, I think we have to be careful, because its not simply a matter of cultural development, its also a matter of how far the cultures have 'fallen', which will determine how technologically 'advanced' they are. We also have to be careful taking things from the Hobbit & assuming they should be considered part of Me - are there clocks in the Shire in LotR? I can't think of a mention of one (someone will correct me here, I suppose!). In the early drafts of the Hobbit sequel there are mentions of clocks & fountain pens, but they disappear from the later drafts. A clock is a machine which is designed to give 'control' over time, after all.

Also, it is not the material substance alone which must be considered, but the use it is put to - both Gandalf & Saruman make use of 'gunpowder' - Gandalf to make fireworks, Saruman to make explosive charges, & it is Saruman alone who is enslaved to the Machine. So, having the means to produce the machine is not a symbol of fallenness - its only going ahead & producing it that is. Unfallen people don't produce technology, because they don't think that way. Its no accident that Feanor creates the Silmarils & the Palantiri, & claims the former for himself alone, & then goes on to foment rebellion. Whatever else the Silmarils are they are 'machines', technology, in that they are intended to produce an effect on the world, & on others, beyond simply being beautiful. Feanor desires them to impress, to produce envy - in other words, they are designed to seperate him from those around him, to emphasise his difference, & also his superiority over them. So, its not the things in themselves, the items of technology, its the intent behind them, which is the machine.

The fallenesss of the Numenoreans is shown by their creation of flying ships, not because they created them, but because of why they did so - they were motivated by a desire to control, & dominate the lives & minds of others, to impress others with their superiority. Or in short, they were driven by pride. Whether their ships sailed on the sea or through the air makes very little difference. They weren't 'good' & 'unfallen' while their ships stayed in the water, & suddenly 'bad' & 'fallen' when they discovered how to make them fly.

So, it seems to me that for Tolkien, technology is not bad in itself, but rather a sign of inherent badness. Technologically advanced societies are bad societies because only bad societies would produce technology - or at least only societies that are going bad.

No, bear with me...

Art is good, technology is bad - so what's the difference? Technology is art 'misused'. The Numenoreans in both their pre- & post- fallen state had ships, so did the Teleri & the Corsairs. The ships of the Teleri (beautifully depicted by Ted Naismith in his painting 'The Kinslaying at Alqualonde' in the new edition of the Sil - all of the same basic design but each uniquely different) were artistic creations (& seeing those same ships burning in a later painting, 'The Burning of the Ships', is incredibly powerful - despite what I've recently said about paintings of fantasy subjects in another thread!). The frist ships of the Numenoreans were probably the same to some degree, while the later ships of the Numenoreans & the ships of the Corsairs were not art, but technology, because their builders were fallen, & they were producing not art but 'machines'.

Sorry - thinking on my feet here, & no time to go back over it all. Lets say, 'technology' is just what a people 'produce', a means of interacting with the world, & the issue is motivation - which can either be Art, or the Machine.

And now, I will follow in the footsteps of tar-ancalime, & leave without clearing up my mess, either!